The Shrine

Erik Anthony Audé (born 5 April 1980) is an American actor/stuntman/professional poker player who was arrested and jailed in Pakistan for drug trafficking.

Audé was born in Beverly Hills, California. He was convinced to ferry leather samples from Islamabad, Pakistan to the United States by Razmik Minasian (who used the alias Rai Gharizian), an Armenian friend at the gymnasium that employed Audé. Minasian did not tell Audé that the case containing leather skirts and jackets[1] also contained opium. On February 15, 2002, Audé was arrested at Islamabad International Airport after, according to Pakistani authorities, being found with 3.6 kilograms[2] (7.9 pounds[3]) of opium before Audé's scheduled flight to Dubai, United Arab Emirates..[4]

Because Pakistan is not a part of the United States' Prison Transfer Treaty program, the actor, convicted in January 2003[2], was forced to begin serving a sentence of seven years at the Adiala Central Jail in nearby Rawalpindi. A number of stories at the time speculated on the odds of his surviving the full term of his seven year sentence.[4]

Audé's 2004 release followed an appeal by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson just before Christmas, and followed Minasian's written confession that Aude' was innocent of knowing he was being used to smuggle Opium.[5] A number of websites were set up to help promote his cause, and to document the struggle to free him. The actor arrived at Los Angeles International Airport after entering the United States at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. As of 2009 Audé lives in the San Fernando Valley.[6]